Hi there and welcome to another episode of the Stacey M Show. I have to apologize for my lighting. I'm currently doing this from a motel room and this was the best I could get. But today's episode is just about my cervical cancer journey. There were people who had questions and I was more than happy to answer them. And I thought to hopefully try and reach more people and make awareness of cervical cancer and that it can be preventable or at least you know not get to the stage where i was at stage three um i would put in the form of a podcast and you can uh share it with those um people who you love to remind them to make sure that they get all of their checkups whether you're a male or a female and it's not just in relation to getting your pap smear done it's you know it's prostate it's bowel it's breast it's what you know any health check that you need to make sure that you stay up to date so there's a few questions that have come through and they're all pretty similar so I'm going to answer the ones that have already come in if there are any other questions please just reach out as I said there has been no filter I don't want there to be a filter I didn't want to glamorize I suppose I was told the other week that I was faking my cancer diagnosis. I can guarantee you that I've got better things to do than to fake a cancer diagnosis. No, I very much was diagnosed with stage three end of November, start of December. And another one was that I was faking my side effects. No, no. haven't been faking any side effects anything that i've had i've shared them and as to the root cause as to why i think i got things i think some were self-inflicted so um definitely haven't been you know hiding anything at all um but you know more than happy to be hit up um you know if with with questions or whether you think i have been hiding stuff but definitely have not um you can probably see it in my face I'm still very exhausted, still very tired. Recent blood show that I'm anemic. So that would be no doubt contributing to why I'm so absolutely exhausted and why that brain fog is there. But again, if that's the worst that I have to deal with for the moment, I'm going to take it. over other side effects so uh the first question was could this has been prevented absolutely if it couldn't have been prevented it could have been caught earlier and i might not have got to stage three so um this is not a vax anti-vax debate um there is a hpv vaccination um actually i think my eldest daughter got it probably like in year seven I think. So I did have it, but I would have been in my mid-twenties when I had it. And I want to say it was probably when the vaccination had come out. So this is in Australia. Other countries could be different. So you obviously have the HPV vaccine. Vaccination where the cervical cancer comes from, the most common strain is XVI and XVIII. I did not have either of those strains. So mine has come from somewhere else where, no idea, they didn't consider it necessary to find out where. But as I said, this isn't a vax, anti-vax debate. That is an option. Obviously screening, so getting your pap smears done from when you are sexually active at whatever age. That is, I'd probably been always hit and miss with getting my pap smear done. And this time around, I can't check the exact date because obviously my most recent one took the place of the one that happened before. I thought I had one maybe just after my first daughter was born and she turns fifteen this year. So I want to say there was probably... you know, thirteen, fourteen years gap between my pap smear perhaps. Had they been more up to date, obviously those cells would highly likely have been picked up that they were getting a little bit dodgy and I highly likely probably wouldn't have got to stage three like I have. So definitely preventable or if not preventable, definitely didn't have to escalate to stage three. And I have no valid reason for not getting a pap smear other than I probably didn't have the time or didn't think I have the time. I didn't want that awkwardness and that discomfort for five to ten minutes, like literally no valid reason. So, you know, the amount of awkwardness and discomfort that I've had in the past few months has definitely outweighed, you know, the five or ten minute pap smears. So, you know, yeah, so definitely do recommend that you stay up to date with your pap smears. In Australia, it's every five years unless you are deemed high risk and then it's more regular than that. My understanding is cervical cancer or squamous cell is slow growing. So, you know, I probably have had this in my system for ten years, but I didn't have any. symptoms until late last year or towards the last quarter of last year so we could definitely be growing inside you and you don't know it so please definitely make sure that you get checked out um what else did I have um I don't believe it's also hereditary, but I was not aware that a family member had cervical cancer in her twenties. So had I known that, would I have been more regular with my pap smears? Probably not because my auntie also had breast cancer, which I kind of forgot about, and I still haven't gone for a breast check. So the fact that the scans at the moment and the next one in three months will be doing the whole entire body to make sure that there are no active cancer cells or tumours or anything in there I'm comfortable with. But no, it probably wouldn't have made a difference, I don't think. So I know that there's been so many people that have reached out to me who have booked in their overdue PAPS meetings, which is absolutely fantastic. Or they're booked in a breast scan or the guys are saying that they're getting their prostate checked and all those other things. I said, I was really good with getting my teeth done each year. I was really good at getting my skin checked each year. My grandmother had died from skin cancer. So I was very active with that. Get my eyes checked each year, fell behind and other things. Can't tell you why. I just did. But, yes, I think prevention is much better than cure or at least early diagnosis will save you probably a lot of what I've gone through the past few months with treatment. So symptoms. So as I said, it had... highly likely been growing in me for around ten years um there was definitely nothing picked up when I went to have my second child in twenty thirteen but she was also born by a caesar so I don't know whether something would have been picked up by then um I think that's kind of where they're getting the the ten the the ten year thing from um you know kind of after kids and it's you know something's happened and it's decided to kick off there. But the only symptom that I had was discharge. So I thought my bladder was failing. I knew it wasn't like urine coming out. It wasn't smelly. It wasn't the consistency, but there was something happening. And I'm like, maybe it's a UTI. So I waited a couple of weeks. And went, yeah, okay, this probably isn't normal. I tried to utilise online doctors because I didn't think it was anything serious and kind of exhausted with all of them. They're like, you've got diabetes. I'm like, I don't have diabetes. I'm like, yeah, you do. I'm like, no, I don't. They were basing that just off the discharge. I knew what my blood sugar was. I checked my blood sugar levels. I have the ability to do that at home. So I knew it wasn't diabetes. And they're like, look, you're wrong. But you know, if you're going to be like that, you have to go to a physical doctor now. So I did that. I'm like, I can tell you, I don't have diabetes. My blood sugar level is very normal but there's obviously something happening and of course um i had a pap smear done and the doctor was like look it's not meant to be looking like this it's a very good relationship with my doctor so most doctors probably wouldn't say what say what had happened but um you know yes i've seen worse but they should be looking better than this it's very red it's bleeding it's very inflamed there's definitely something up When I had the pap smear, I felt incredibly unwell and it hurt like a lot. So getting a pap smear done usually doesn't necessarily hurt. It just is uncomfortable. But this actually made me feel very nauseous and there was like blood everywhere. I felt very unwell and it hurt a lot. So that obviously got sent away. I'm sitting in the car afterwards wondering if I'm going to vomit. That's what it was like. I felt horrid and the past me was done on Saturday morning and I felt really unwell all weekend and I think going into Monday as well. I had, from memory, like pains in like my stomach and my pelvis area. I felt very nauseous. Just felt absolutely horrid. And then I came good a little bit and went to Sydney on the Tuesday or Wednesday, I think it was. I think it was Tuesday because we had to go down there for a trade show and it was halfway through Thursday. I got the call saying the doctor wants you to come and see him. I'm like, I'm in Sydney. It's obviously come back or something. You've got to tell me on the phone. I'm not waiting type thing. um i heard ovarian cancer which doesn't make sense from apaps me but obviously i was just um very overwhelmed with everything it was clearly cervical cancer and you know i think i've done some videos on the the rest um from there if i haven't released them yet they will be coming released but um so that was my symptom it was just thinking that my bladder had failed so there was just discharge I didn't have anything else so um and um as each test came back so I was diagnosed as stage one then I went to stage two and the stages within the stages as well so I can't remember what stage in stage one I was I can't remember what stage in stage two I was either but then I got upgraded to stage three which was three c one and I've just forgotten it because this is what it's like um Tracy one, maybe that's it. That's really bad. Um, having moments and a brain fog and what they call chemo brain, which I think is worse than baby brain, um, moments happen a lot. So maybe C three one, I think. was my stage within my stage. But it wasn't that it had grown within those times. It was just that the different tests that were coming back were more advanced to detect where it was. And I think it was the last PET scan and the MRI that really showed the size of it and what stage it was as well. But that was my symptom. Um, when my last pap smear was, I already jumped the gun and said that, um, I think it was probably well around that thirteen, fourteen, fifteen year mark. I said, I think I had one just after my eldest was born. Um, I think that's only because I wasn't expecting to have one done. It was one of the checkups post, um, post having her, I think. Um, I can't quite remember that far back, but. Yeah, so it was definitely overdue. I said regular pap smears would have picked this up. So how long before, like in between pap smears was, was probably no different. I definitely don't think I was kind of... Every five years I had not had a dodgy pap smear before. If I had, then that probably would have made me more aware. But no pap smear prior showed any signs of anything either. So... What happens after diagnosis? So I think I've done videos on this as well, so there might not have all came out, but I know that definitely some have been released. Look, I still don't think I've processed it. It's been, what, two to three months now. You know, I lived at the hospital for... weekly for for at least five weeks and my treatment started the week of Christmas so I was at hospital every single day sometimes even on a weekend so um receiving treatment so and sometimes there were double days so it was double radiation to make up for public holidays and things so um there are a lot of appointments you will get jabbed a lot there is a lot of blood tests there's a lot of testing in general where sometimes the need to inject a dye into you sometimes you drink the the dye so you can it shows up on the scan um then there's wait times so all of my scans um lately have been at the hospital so they have the MRI and the PET scan ability at the hospital I'm at Um, before that I had to go to a bull hunt imaging in my case down here. So a lot of those games were like meant to be like weeks and weeks to get into. And some of them I was getting in the same day or the next day. So it was definitely a very escalated moment. Uh, I didn't have time to, to really process anything. As I said, I think I'm still. processing things now because it has slowed a little bit but the the brain fog is still very much there and just being like really tired as I said my latest blood show that I'm anemic so that's um just a side effect that I have to put up with and then the accumulated radiation and chemo and now I'm on immuno I had my fourth immuno yesterday so um You know, just because treatment stops doesn't mean your side effects stop as well. They are still continuing and sometimes they can continue for years, which hopefully that's not the case. But, yeah, and then the different stages. So as I said, I started at stage one, finished at stage three. Very emotional. So when you have radiation as well, at least with cervical cancer, you go into surgical menopause. So... I'm assuming that's yet to come. I don't think it's hit. Although for somebody who's not very emotional, I do randomly cry at things. So because it kills your ovaries and everything. So if you're looking at having children, I don't know how that would work. My kids had, I already had my girls. So the kid thing for me, I didn't have to worry about. But if you are looking at having children, then you'd have to look at your options for that because you would do go into a surgical menopause just because of where the radiation is taking place. And then you have brachy afterwards if you need that. Chemo as well, I'm assuming would work. probably not go so well if you were pregnant or maybe trying to fall pregnant so um but yeah the whole diagnosis thing is as i said just i think everything because everything happened so fast. I didn't have a time to process things. I didn't have a time to question things. It was just like, okay, this is what I have to do. And it's not until now I'm like, okay, yes, the majority of my treatment is done, but I have these side effects and how can I compliment things? I suppose, which is what I'm trying to do now. So my treatment plan. So as I said, it started the week of Christmas. I had External being five days a week for five weeks. Some of that was double because of the public holidays around that Christmas, New Year period, as I said. So I'd have radiation twice a day. um i had chemotherapy as well as i had five rounds of chemotherapy i had cisplastin as my chemo i had brachytherapy after i had my external radiation which is internal radiation so they actually give you radiation through um Called it Edward Scissorhanding, which is not probably the best way to describe it if you're looking at having to get brachy, which I have done a video on brachy actually. So I don't think I've released it yet, but it's internal. So they insert things into your vagina. For me, I was asleep for that component of it, but for the actual treatment for the radiation going into me, I was awake for. And you don't feel it, but so it's you're getting internal radiation directly through your vagina into your cervix. So sounds pretty funky, but that's what it is. And then immunotherapy, which I'm still on for the next two years. So that is PEMBROSE, I think, or something similar to that. The... the immuno that I'm on so still receiving treatment um I said I had my fourth one yesterday um and then wait three months to see what the scans are I'm also complementing with diet I'm going very bad at that um very bad at that so um I really wanted diet to be a big part of it from the start and it got to the point it's just where eat whatever you can stomach, just eat whatever you can eat. And now I'm finding it hard to reel that in and stick to, it's not a diet, it's a lifestyle change. So effectively it's meant to be a low carb diet. I'm very carb based and it's just being more aware of getting more protein in, reducing carbs and filling it with obviously good fats and good carbs. So I'm trying to get that sorted right now. I've got supplements as well that I've been taking. So treatment overall, I think I was very lucky with. I had just assumed I was going to get nausea, so I managed that incredibly well. I was taking either Zofran or Maxilon three times a day. And last week I actually started to wean myself off. So I haven't taken any anti-nausea meds for about a week, which was super, super scary. But I actually feel better for not being on them. Still incredibly tired, which that's the side effect of. But, yeah, definitely feel better for not being on the anti-nausea meds now. Still carry them around with me. But I haven't needed them for over a week, which was good. And I wasn't quite sure how Amina was going to go. But still fine. But treatment, like I could probably count on one hand how many times I thought I was going to die. And really there was only one time I thought I was going to die. It was the longest, fifteen to twenty minutes that I had ever had. I was nauseous. I was sweating. I had no idea what was happening. And there might have been actually one other time of the night time where I'd contemplated calling an ambulance as well. Just, I can't quite remember the... what was happening I think it was just sore nauseous similar along the same lines um but I didn't have to have any extended hospital stays or or anything like that um and then when I was unwell so there were times where I'd go to radiation and I'd be like I don't know like I feel really unwell I'm either gonna shit myself piss myself or vomit or do all three There was a couple of times where I'd done that and they were like, if it happens, it happens. You're not the first and you're not going to be the last. So as I said, I had the most amazing team. It didn't happen. But I was just very honest with them that I feel absolutely horrid and I'm not quite sure I'm going to make treatment. There was one time I was driving myself and I was very close to turning the car back around and not doing it because I felt really horrid as well. But those days were really few and far between for me. So I knew if I managed nausea, then anything else I would just manage, whether that was pain or whatever else. And having said that, there wasn't a lot of pain that I had either. So I knew that I had certain reactions to Dex. The first week of chemo, I actually had my legs down and that was the worst idea ever. So I made sure that my legs were always elevated because they're pumping you fast. like four to five six liters of fluids so it's a lot of fluid and leaving my legs down just had horrid um effect it was very restless legs the decks on top of that are very swollen and sore and uncomfortable so I just made sure that any chemo day I had that my legs were elevated so the chair was up um that was probably my biggest takeaway um from that um also um you know when you have treatment they put the bandages and um everything on your arm and it's like I'm the person that would take a band-aid off in the shower like that's where I'm at and obviously I've had a lot of needles over the past couple of months um I started to shave sorry I'm losing my voice um I started to shave my arms so um And it stopped hurting. So anytime I have to go get treatment. So I made sure my arms were shaved yesterday. I have to shave both because you don't know where the needle is going to go. It just depends on where it wears good in the day. But I started to shave my arms and that had a big difference. Like it didn't even hurt with them taking the cannula out and, you know, all of the packing and stuff, like all the tape and binges and stuff that they put on you. So if you're a bit of a wuss like me, shave your arms for treatment. It makes a very big difference when they're taking stuff off you at the end. Okay. Chemo days were probably the biggest. Even immuno yesterday, I was kind of at the hospital from ten. I didn't get home until about four, I don't think. So even that was a really big day. The time you see the oncologist and then you're waiting and then they have to make the treatment up and then you're waiting for a chair and they say you're up to sixty people a day so it's not like you're the only person in the room. So even immuno days are quite long. But You know, we would always have, I didn't have, yesterday was the first day I didn't have anyone with me. I was very proud of myself. I just had to get a needle on my own, which I did. But, you know, we would take food. We would take, you know, cards. We would download things from Netflix and watch that. I'd get up and make a cup of tea. Doing it like that the days actually went pretty quick. So if you were sitting there with absolutely nothing to do, that would make the day go long, which a lot of people in there did. But the fact that we downloaded some things, some Netflix, we had some, you know, cards, you know, no sooner were we kind of getting there and we actually feeling like, okay, we're walking out the door. So definitely make sure that you download things, you take a book, you take headphones, you take a – a mask yesterday I was very cold so they do have heated blankets there which is great but some people bring dressing gowns and their own blankets so you know you're highly likely going to be there for the most of the day so make sure that you are comfortable so I make sure things are fully charged as well but that would be my advice for that um what else did I have that was kind of nearly really it. And it's just more like, what advice do you have? And it's just that whole prevention is better than cure. So whether you're a male or a female, any tests that you were due for, whether that's getting your skin checked, it's your dentist appointment, it's an optometrist appointment, it's getting your prostate checked, it's getting your pap smears, getting your boobs squished, it's whatever it is, please make sure you go and get that done. Because, you know, health is not something that, should be taken for granted it's definitely something that I had taken for granted and then I'd ended up here and I think it could have been a hell of a lot worse but um you know the past few months have definitely had an impact on my girls and the family and um you know whilst I don't do the whole this has happened for a reason thing um I don't quite like the wording of that but it has made me realize that I can't not prioritize my health and let it have a backseat ever again, because I definitely had let my health just, I took it for granted. So I didn't think that, you know, I didn't think that I was, like, invincible or anything like that, but I definitely just was not up to date with a lot of the checkups that I should have been getting, especially at the age of forty-three. Like, I should have been more onto things and I just wasn't. And I know I'm not the only one because so many people have reached out saying, oh, my gosh, I didn't realise. Like, time had just gotten away. I thought I was up to date, but I wasn't. And now I've booked in for my pap smear or my breast check or whatever it might be. So... please just make sure you're up to date. Please get on people's backs if they haven't done things. I know there's so many people around me that have already booked in and got their scans done, which is amazing. But if there is someone that might need a little bit of encouragement, please send this podcast or this video if you're watching on YouTube to them because I can't tell you how many times I have been poked and prodded and bruised and tired and you know, upset bowel movements and thinking I'm going to shit, piss and vomit myself on the radiation table. You know, the things that I've missed out on because I, you know, white blood cell count takes a really big hit. So, you know, you kind of don't want to go anywhere. You can't afford to get sick because we're highly susceptible to getting septic. Like there's... But if you start to read all the side effects of everything, it's absolutely horrendous. So blood clots, kidney issues, there's so many different things. So yeah, please don't learn the hard way that I did. Please make sure you go and... Get checked so you're all up to date for peace of mind. But for other answers, some of your questions, if you have more, please just reach out and I'll just do another episode. But, yeah, I'm slowly getting to it. I overdid it last week so I've had to pull back the reins a little bit again. So definitely not working at capacity and I would think that it's going to take a little while for me to get back to where I was. If I will at all, I think I was probably too busy Yeah, I think it was probably too hectic for me, really. I shouldn't have been working what I was working and everything. So probably won't be getting back to what I was, but I should be probably getting back to what I should be doing, which is working less and looking after myself a little bit more. But thank you, everybody, for your patience and I will catch you next episode. Take care.
